It requires no restraint if you’re not a monster.

Vice President is the surest path to President in US politics.

Oh, yeah, no world in which I’m paying $4k for being wrong. Good on the other guy for taking your twenty. Good luck and I’ll be watching with interest.

Would that be $2 from me if I lose?

You’re applying the behavior of Republicans under Trump in 2024 to their behavior in 2016 under Mitch McConnell, which is not a fair way to interpret history.

The Republicans’ primary goal has always been to consolidate power, a strategy evident even before Trump’s influence. This was evident in 2016 when McConnell blocked Merrick Garland’s appointment. It wasn’t just about denying Obama a win; it was about maintaining control over the Supreme Court. By holding the position open, they ensured a conservative majority with Gorsuch’s appointment in 2017.

While their actions under Trump have often seemed erratic and without principle, the decision to block Garland was a calculated, strategic move rooted in the same pursuit of power. Viewing their behavior solely through the lens of recent events, like the border bill, ignores the broader, consistent strategy they have employed over the years.

The move to block Garland was a clear demonstration of their long-term strategy to secure judicial power, not an isolated act of obstructionism. This context is crucial for understanding the continuity in their approach to power, rather than seeing it as a sudden shift in behavior.

This isn’t a bill and this wasn’t 2024. Mitch McConnell was responsible for stonewalling Garland’s appointment to the supreme court. Trump was responsible for killing the bill. Trump is an idiot, McConnell is just evil. They don’t play the same way at all. They almost certainly would have passed that legislation if Trump hadn’t interfered.

It was a lifetime appointment to the most powerful position in the country, assuming you have a like-minded majority. If he were a federalist, it would have been a gift to them on a silver platter.

We’re dealing with counterfactuals here, but attributing their increasingly irrational behavior today to all their actions in the past is a terrible way to interpret history.

He is not. If he were, why would the republicans have stonewalled his nomination for Supreme Court Justice? It doesn’t make sense.

He has participated in some events, like debates, with the federalist society, but he is not a member.

Do all the research in the world and you will not find any connection there.

“John [Roberts] has made his decision; now let him enforce it.”

-Joe Biden channeling Andrew Jackson (who was, to be clear, a garbage human being and on the wrong side of history, much like most of our current supreme court)

Historian Sean Munger’s excellent 2-part series on the JFK assassination interestingly titled: Oswald Acted Alone.

Legally, we weren’t convicting him of adultery, he’s a convicted felon for trying to hide it in order to subvert the election.

Even though the entire case is predicated on adultery, it is not a legal fact, so they’re covering themselves from a libel lawsuit.

I’m not a lawyer, however, so that’s training from my journalism degree years ago talking. Someone with better knowledge can correct me.

Yeah, there was an exhibition match between Serena and Venus and the 203rd ranked male player.

No, I mean like one of this audience of old people at a youth convention.

Would love if the article included a photo from the convention.

Esoteric for me. I still have trouble with that word.

I want it to be eh-sot-uh-rik for some reason.

That’s a fair point.

I think because guys are pound for pound stronger than girls. I’ve read stories on Reddit years ago by girls who are wrestlers or fighters and get into a playful tussle with some random guy and they describe it as terrifying.

Yes and no? My team is scattered around the US, so if my east coasters hit a snag early, I genuinely don’t want them in a holding pattern until I get around to it. Same for my coworkers on the west coast.

Some of the intensity of it has been that I assumed control of a team that was already severely mismanaged and had missed it’s initial deadlines by a month.

Of course that manager got promoted to an area that better suited his skills and I was asked to step in and try to right the ship. Our final deadline is today and we only have minor and cosmetic bugs left (that we know of).

We have plenty of new features to add moving forward, but with the project back on track and the foundation established, I’ll be able to set better deadlines for everyone’s work life balance.

I will probably always have some temptation to pull long hours for my team scattered around the country, but it becomes much less urgent now that we’re past our insane crunch.

Maybe it’s hopelessly naive of me and the next deadline will also become a crunch, but I have some control over those future dates, so I hope it will be less of an issue.

A box cutter guillotine!

Really good advice, thank you.

Honestly the last year or so has shown me that the madness is America wasn’t unique to us, we’ve just been ahead of the curve. The elections in Europe this last year have been genuinely scary to watch.